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Mike Holmes lets son build him his ultimate garage

Mike Holmes Sr. and Mike Holmes Jr. are keen on being superheroes, but it gets more complex with the assigning of roles.

“As a kid that's what I wanted to do, I wanted to help people, I wanted to save people, I wanted to be a superhero,” Mike Jr. said. “I guess this is the closest thing I can do to that.”

That's when Mike Sr. interjected, “My son is a superhero. But I'm Batman and he's Robin.”

Mike Jr. protested, “I'm Batman, okay?” And it just sort of deteriorated into a comedic argument from there.

Any relationship between a father and son can be complicated even without super powers. But when the father is world-renowned building contractor and TV personality Mike Holmes, and he puts his son Mike Jr. in charge of building something that is particularly close to dad's heart, there's always the potential for sparks to fly, and not just from the machinery.

Thus we have Mike's Ultimate Garage, a two-hour special that debuts Monday, Sept. 1 on HGTV. The premise is straight-forward. Mike Holmes has dreamed of having an “ultimate garage” on his own property, but since he got famous, he hasn't found the time for such a big personal project. Now his son Mike Jr. is old enough to take the lead on it. Is Mike Jr. ready? And hey, your dad is only Mike Holmes, no pressure here.

“I could have handled my stress better, to be perfectly honest,” said Mike Jr., who has appeared in some of his dad's various TV shows from time to time for about a decade, dating back to when he was 15. “I used to second-guess myself a lot. But this has shown me I'm strong enough to handle anything my dad throws at me, and I'm sure he'll throw something at me again.”

Not literally, to be clear. One thing you'll see when watching Mike's Ultimate Garage is that Mike Sr. and Mike Jr. actually get along very well.

But when the dad sees the son under stress, the dad's instinct is to help, so he hovers. The son needs and appreciates the advice, but it adds to his stress, because he feels he's letting his dad down. It isn't what someone is saying, it's what the other person is hearing.

“Wow. Yeah. You hit the nail on the head,” Mike Jr. said.

“You should just write that down, 'cause that was good,” Mike Sr. said.

“I think I've been a different creature in life, because when I was 19, running a company, I said, 'I'm the boss, nobody tells me what to do and I'm making money.' But there's a fine line between cocky and confident. I'm probably one of the most confident people you've ever met. And I'm learning this as I get older, looking back at myself, that there is that fine line. Stress means you're not confident enough. Mike Jr. has learned to have more confidence, which has dropped the stress.”

Looking ahead, Mike Jr. said he doesn't necessarily aspire to be a TV personality, although if that comes with the territory, he isn't against it, either.

Mike Sr. added, “I didn't want to put my kids on television (too young), because I had a terrible feeling what it would do to them. And my kids are great, it hasn't gone to their heads, they're so who they are, they haven't changed and are never going to change. But I was worried about the privacy thing, because that disappears when you go on television.

“But they're so frickin' good at it, and so natural in front of the camera, it only makes sense to keep them on television, doesn't it?”

That's a nice compliment from Batman to Robin. Or wait, was it the other way around?

With Mike's Ultimate Garage now complete, Mike Holmes Sr. and Mike Holmes Jr. can battle it out in their new Bat Cave.